Newcomer to Remington Park, Trainer Monty Arrossa, Wins Three With Only Three Starters

OKLAHOMA CITY – February 12, 2020 – Trainer Monty Arrossa has risen from small-town obscurity to the top ranks among American Quarter Horse conditioners in the country since 1991. He is racing at Remington Park for the first time and won three training races Wednesday despite only having a string of 12 horses on the grounds.

Remington Park conducted 10 training races Wednesday, in misty conditions with temperatures in the high 30s over a sloppy track.

Trainer Rex Brooks also had a big day, scoring with two horses – Ferrari B (13.606 seconds for a 76 speed index at 250 yards) in the second training race and First Lucy Lark in the eighth. First Lucy Lark had the fastest time of the day, stopping the timer in 13.529 seconds for a speed index of 79. First Lucy Lark is a full sister to stakes-winning Jay Number 7. She is owned by Dustin Cox, who also has Jay Number 7. Jockey Jose Vega had the ride.

Arrossa, 47, from Jerome, Idaho, won the first race of the day with If Im Lying Im Dyin, the fourth race with Aint She Tempting, and the seventh with Cartels Dynasty, all 2-year-old Quarter Horses. It was the only three horses he started in the schooling races and all three are owned by Dunn Ranch in Wynnewood, Okla.

“The Dunns sent us some horses to run in California and we’d always thought about trying Remington Park, so we decided to come in this year,” Arrossa said.

Arrossa went to high school at Shoshone, Idaho, where he graduated in a class of 19 students. That hasn’t kept him from becoming successful in the big time, however, as he has had two Grade 1 stakes winners in his career, including the winner of the 2016 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos in California with Zoomin for Spuds, arguably the top race for older horses in the country.

Arrossa ranked third in the country in number of wins in 2018 and was ninth last year. He also had a Grade 1 winner in Katies Easy Moves in the Vessels Maturity at Los Alamitos in 2018. Last year, Arrossa started 334 horses, won 63 times, finished second 66 times and third 53 more times. His horses earned $1,109,943. It was the second year in a row his starters have pocketed more than $1 million, a far cry from $14,937 in earnings when he started in 1991.

Arrossa’s fastest winner Wednesday at Remington Park was Cartels Dynasty, scoring the seventh race in 13.637 seconds. Aint She Tempting won race four in 13.724 seconds for a speed index of 75 with If Im Lyin Im Dyin winning the opener in 12.726 seconds for a speed index of 71.

In other training races Wednesday, the winners, Quarter Horses unless otherwise noted, were Loaded On Crown, Paint, (third race, 13.758, 70, trainer Clint Crawford, owner Mike Hester), Seven Tales (fifth race, 13.679, 73, Diego Mesa, Paula Villatoro), Bearley Legal, Paint, (sixth race, 13.850, 66, Bradley Mason, Dee Rae Racing), Phondler, Paint, (ninth race, 13.789, 69, Michelle Hurdle, Edith Velasco-Gutierrez), Run Me First (10^th race, 13.728, 71, Mike Robbins, Reliance Ranches LLC).

The training races originally scheduled for Thursday have been postponed to Friday at 11 a.m. due to a better weather situation predicted for the end of the week.

The 2019 Remington Park Quarter Horse season begins Friday, March 6, and continues for 50 dates, through Saturday, May 30.

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Tracked by more than 161,000 fans on Facebook and more than 10,100 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $241 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District, Remington Park will host the 2020 American Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa Season from March 6 through May 30. For more information, reservations and group bookings please call 405-424-1000, 866-456-9880 or visit remingtonpark.com.